“We have a day care center and an after-school program here for the children of our employees,” he said, changing the subject.
“Is that something that will be available to Ivy?”
“Yes, absolutely. It’s free, so it won’t affect your income.” He removed a sheet of paper from his desk drawer and handed it to her. “Here’s more information about it. If you want to bring your daughter to the day care, just call them directly to arrange for her enrollment.”
“Thank you.” She folded the paper and slipped it into her purse. And when she glanced back up at Garrett, she noticed how intently he was gazing at her. Sometimes she used to wonder if he’d been as attracted to her as she’d been to him. If some of those confusing feelings had been mutual.
But none of that mattered now, she reminded herself. Meagan was only here to make a living and pay back the money she owed, not to rekindle her crush on Garrett.
“I’ll be a good employee,” she said, needing to reaffirm her intentions out loud. “I’ll work hard.”
A muscle in his jaw flexed. “I’m counting on it.”
Yes, of course. He was expecting her to toe the line. Her parole officer was expecting the same thing. So was Meagan’s family. She had a lot of people counting on her to make the right choices from now on.
She contemplated the position he’d offered her. “Can I ask you something?”
He nodded warily. Did he think her question was going to be personal?
She closed the latch on her purse, realizing that she’d left it open. Then she asked, “What made you decide on me being a stable hand? Is it because both of my brothers work in the horse industry, and you figured that I had knowledge of it, too?”
“That’s pretty much it.” He squinted at her. “Why? Do you have reservations about the job? Because you told the parole commission that you were qualified for it.”
“My experience with horses was a long time ago, when I was a kid. I can still do the job, though. It won’t be a problem.”
He angled his head. “Are you sure?”
“I’m positive.” She would be feeding, grooming and saddling the animals, as well as cleaning and maintaining the stalls and equipment. “I know what it entails.” And she would bust her hump if she had to. “But I just thought I should tell you that my experience was limited to when I was younger.”
While she waited for him to respond, she tried not to get intimidated. Especially with how drawn to him she’d once been. And still was, she thought.
“All right,” he said. “I can give you a tour of the stables now if you’d like.”
“Thank you. That would be great. I’m looking forward to seeing them.”
He stood and removed his jacket, and her pulse zipped a bit too quickly. She needed to focus on her job and not on how he made her feel. She was going to work here, but she wasn’t going to fall for Garrett again. She’d hurt him—and herself—enough already.
* * *
The stables were located on a grass-topped hill that overlooked the resort, with brush-lined trails leading to the beach. There were public paths that went into the hills, and beyond those trails, even higher up, on a private and gated road, was Garrett’s house. This was his world, his sanctuary, and now he was lending it to a woman who’d played him for a fool.
According to his mother, he needed to forgive Meagan, to give her a chance to prove herself. Mom had all sorts of do-gooder reasons for believing it was the right thing to do.
Garrett had spent months thinking it through, and even now, he wasn’t sure why he’d given in. Maybe it was because somewhere deep down, he wanted to believe that Meagan was capable of being reformed. Or maybe it was because she had a child to care for, and Garrett had a soft spot for kids.
He just wished that his mom had never dragged him into this mess. But she didn’t know that he’d had romantic feelings for Meagan. No one knew, not even his foster brothers. To them, she was just someone who’d worked at their accountant’s office.
But, to Garrett, she was someone he’d wanted to explore on a deeper level. If she’d been single, he would have asked her out. But since she was tied up with Neil, he’d been careful not to overstep his bounds. Of course, he’d been hoping that she was on the verge of leaving her loser boyfriend, the jerk who’d made her cry on the phone that first day, giving Garrett a chance to dash in like the knight he’d imagined himself to be.
A knight who’d gotten his armor crushed.
As they entered the barn, he glanced over at her. She was as beautiful as he remembered, with her almond-shaped eyes and long silky hair. She did seem more mature, though, far less flighty than before. Prison had changed her. Motherhood, too, he supposed. But were those changes he could trust? She might have become more conniving over the years, more charming, more of a seductress. Her sweet little apologies could be an act, and a damned good one at that.
He intended to keep a close eye on her. There was no way he was going to let her screw him over again.
Garrett spotted Tom Lutz, the barn manager, and motioned for him to come over and meet Meagan. Tom was a friendly old cowboy, short and stocky, with a big bushy mustache like the one Wyatt Earp used to wear. Once Meagan started working here, Tom would be her supervisor.
The introduction went well. Tom was his usual pleasant self, and Meagan was as sweet and humble as she’d been with Garrett back in his office. He sure as hell hoped it wasn’t an act.
After a bit of chitchat, the old cowboy returned to work, leaving Garrett and Meagan alone once again.
“Tom seems really nice,” she said.
“Yeah, he’s as loyal as they come. He knows about your criminal history. I discussed it with him ahead of time. But he isn’t going to hold it against you. The only thing that matters to him is that you do your job.”
“Do the other employees at the stables know?”
“I haven’t told them and neither has Tom. Nor do we plan to.” Garrett didn’t want it getting around. “But it’s public record. So they might find out on their own. Or someone in HR might mention it and get tongues wagging. People gossip, even if they’ve been warned not to.”
They stopped in the breezeway of the barn, and Garrett rolled up his shirtsleeves. He’d left his jacket back at his office, but he was still wearing his tie. He had a huge collection of them. He kept them in his closet, organized by color, the same as his suits.
Meagan’s skirt was flowing softly around her ankles. Everything about her looked soft and touchable. Not that he ever intended to touch her.
She turned to pat the neck of a big bay gelding poking his head over his stall.
“That’s Ho-Dad,” Garrett told her.
She smiled. “That’s an interesting name for a horse.”
“It’s an old surf term. It refers to anyone who pesters them when they’re on their boards, and Ho-Dad likes surfers, sometimes a little too much. He would probably go surfing himself, if he could.”
“Oh, that’s cute.” Her smile widened. “Can’t you just see him out there?”
“In a wet suit? That wouldn’t be a pretty sight.” Garrett just wished that Meagan wasn’t so damned pretty. He didn’t need the distraction.
She gave the bay another affectionate pat, and he noticed how gently she handled the animal. Ho-Dad was enthralled with her already.
“Do you like to ride?” Garrett asked.
“Surfboards?” She laughed a little. Ho-Dad was craning his neck to get closer to her. “Oh, you mean horses? I haven’t ridden since I was a kid. Ivy loves being in the saddle, though. Tanner puts her up on his horses with him. It’s been good for me to see her enjoying it so much. It was tough for me when I was little.”
“What was? Being around horses?” He was curious, far more than he should be. But he still wanted to know exactly wh
at she meant.
She turned away from Ho-Dad, giving Garrett her full attention. “Yes, being around horses became difficult, especially after my baby sister died and my parents got divorced.”
“You had a sister?” As far as he knew, his mom hadn’t uncovered that bit of information. If she had, she would’ve mentioned it to him, particularly with how determined she was in this whole forgive-Meagan affair.
She took an audible breath. “It was a terrible time for my family. Mom fell apart, and Dad got even meaner.” She glanced at the gelding. “Dad never appreciated horses the way Mom did. In fact, he hated that she and us kids shared the interest. So after the divorce, I took less of an interest in horses, hoping that Dad would be nicer to me. But it didn’t make a difference. On occasion I still rode with Mom, just so she didn’t feel so neglected. Then, as time went on, I stopped riding altogether because Dad was still trashing us for it.”
Garrett had never really thought about the kind of childhood Meagan might’ve had. But it wasn’t his concern. Still, it bothered him that her dad seemed like such a prick. “Your old man sounds like a piece of work.”
“I never should’ve tried to be a daddy’s girl. Not after how he treated my mother.”
Garrett debated whether to tell her that his mom and her mom had been loosely connected, that they’d actually belonged to the same Native American women’s group when they were younger, even if they’d barely known each other.
No, he thought. He wasn’t going to say anything. His mom was already making too big of a deal out of it, and he didn’t want Meagan blowing it out of proportion, too.
She cleared her throat. “None of us have anything to do with Dad anymore. Not me or my brothers. I’m not even sure if he knows that I went to prison or that I have a daughter. But he probably wouldn’t care, anyway.”
“You should start riding again and stick with it this time.”
“That’s what Tanner said. But he’s biased, especially with how much Ivy loves it.”
“I keep my horses here. They’re on the other side of the barn. I ride nearly every day, so you’ll be seeing me around, sometimes in the mornings, other times in the afternoons, depending on my schedule. You can ride here, too, if you want to take it up again. That’s a perk that comes with working at the stables. You can use any of the horses that belong to the hotel.”
“Thank you. I’ll think about it.” She smiled at Ho-Dad. He was pestering her to pet him again.
After the tour ended, Garrett and Meagan went back outside, with the grass beneath their feet and the sun shining through the trees.
She glanced around. “It’s so pretty here.” She looked higher up the hill. “Oh, wow. There’s a house up there, all by itself.”
Well, hell, Garrett thought. He couldn’t very well leave his home out of this. She would find out sooner or later that he resided on the property. “That’s where I live. I had it custom-built.”
She glanced at him and then back up the hill. “I should have guessed it was yours. It’s like a castle that overlooks your kingdom.”
He downplayed her words. He didn’t like to think of himself that way. “It’s just a beach house.”
“Well, it looks spectacular, even from here.”
Garrett didn’t thank her for the compliment. Someday he hoped to have a wife and kids to live there with him. Only he’d yet to find someone who loved him for himself and not his money.
But that was the last thing he wanted to think about, especially while he was in the presence of the beautiful young woman who’d ripped him off. He wasn’t going to let her sad story sway him, either. So she’d had a troubled childhood. So had he, but he hadn’t become a criminal. Or an ex-con or whatever the hell she was now.
He took her back to the hotel, and they parted ways, with Garrett doing his damnedest to forget about her.
But when he returned to his office, she was still on his mind, burning a fiery hole right through it.
Two
What a day, Meagan thought. But she’d gotten through it. She’d seen Garrett and secured her new job. Still, she was feeling the aftereffects of having been in his company.
And now she needed to go home and decompress. These days, she lived in a guesthouse on Tanner’s property, a far cry—thank goodness—from the correctional institution.
She climbed into her car and pulled out of the parking lot. Once she got on the main road, the traffic was heavy, the sights and sounds quick and noisy. Meagan had grown up in LA, but, since she’d gotten out of prison, she felt like a tourist, gawking at the city that surrounded her. Being free was a strange and wondrous feeling. But it was confusing, too. Everything felt different, somehow.
When she arrived at her destination, she parked in front of the main house, a bungalow built in the 1930s, where her brother and Candy resided. With its stucco exterior, brick chimney and stone walkway, it had tons of curb appeal.
Meagan’s place, a guesthouse in the back, was just as charming. She even had her own little courtyard that included a patch of grass, a smattering of flowers and a fountain with a naked putto, a Cupid of sorts, who appeared to be peeing in the water. Most people would call it a cherub, but she knew the difference. Cherubs were angels, hailing from heaven, and putti were mythical beings who misbehaved. In that respect, Meagan could relate.
She noticed that Candy’s car was missing from the driveway, which meant she was still out and about. She’d taken Ivy grocery shopping with her this afternoon. Tanner was at work and wouldn’t be home until later.
For now, Meagan was all alone. She took the side entrance to her house and opened the gate.
She unlocked the front door, went inside and placed her purse on the kitchen table. Next she wandered into Ivy’s room. It was fully furnished and decorated in a fairy-tale theme, but Ivy wasn’t occupying it yet. Although Ivy had gotten to know Meagan from the prison visits, she’d thrown a panicked fit when they’d tried to move her in with Meagan. Bedtime was the worst. Her daughter absolutely refused to sleep there. So, for the time being, Ivy was still living with Tanner and Candy.
It made Meagan feel like a failure as a mother. But she needed to be patient and give her child time to adjust. It had only been a week.
Meagan went into her own room and heaved a sigh. She sat on the edge of the bed and pulled off her boots.
Barefoot, she returned to the kitchen and checked the microwave clock. To keep herself busy, she brewed a cup of herbal tea and sat in the courtyard. The water from the fountain flowed from tier to tier, making rain-like sounds.
After a short while, she heard a car pull into the driveway. Meagan hopped up and headed over to it.
Candy was just getting out of the driver’s side, looking as gorgeous as ever. She was a long, leggy brunette, a former beauty queen and model who’d become a yoga teacher. She and Tanner used to date when they were teenagers. At the time Meagan was only eight, but she’d adored Candy, impressed that her brother was seeing someone so sweet and pretty.
Then, after their baby sister died and their parents started going through the divorce, Tanner couldn’t handle having a girlfriend anymore, so he’d broken up with Candy.
Now all these years later, they were back together and engaged to be married. Who knew it would turn out this way? Meagan certainly hadn’t seen it coming, especially the part where she ended up in prison while the couple helped raise her child.
Candy walked around to the passenger’s side of the vehicle and removed Ivy from the safety seat. Meagan had one in the backseat of her car, too. Tanner had bought two of them, so they didn’t have to switch the same one out all the time.
Ivy was dressed in a bright red romper with her silky brown hair fastened into fancy pigtails sitting high atop her head, twisted and parted in clever ways. Meagan didn’t have a clue how to fix her baby’
s hair like that. It was all Candy’s doing.
Ivy glanced over and grinned, waving at Meagan. She wanted to melt on the spot. She waved back, excited by the acknowledgment. Her daughter was the most precious person on earth.
Candy turned and saw Meagan, and they exchanged a smile. Then Candy asked, “How’d the job meeting go?”
“Good. I’ll fill you in later, when we’re able to sit and talk.” Meagan came forward and reached for Ivy. “I can take her now.”
“Sure.” Candy passed the toddler off. “I’ll get the groceries.”
“I can help with those, too.” Meagan balanced her daughter on her hip, took one of the bags and headed for the back door of the main house.
Once they were inside, she set Ivy down and Candy’s dog, a yellow Labrador named Yogi, came into the room.
“Yoey!” Ivy raced toward her canine friend. “See, Mommy? Yoey?”
“Yes, sweetheart, I see her.” She loved hearing her daughter mispronounce the dog’s name, but she loved hearing her say “Mommy” even more. Ivy had been taught from the beginning who Meagan was. She was too young to grasp it completely, but she liked looking at pictures of animals with their offspring. She knew there were all types of mommies. And daddies, too. That much, she understood.
“Where Tanny?” Ivy asked, using the name she’d learned for Tanner. For Candy, she used Canny.
“Your uncle is at work,” Meagan replied.
“Horsey,” the child confirmed.
Meagan nodded. “Yes, he works with horses.” Tanner owned a riding academy and stables near Griffith Park. He also leased horses to the movie industry. He rode Western and English styles, and Ivy was fascinated with his job.
“I work with horses now, too,” Meagan said.
Ivy cocked her head. “Mommy horsey?”
“I’ll be taking care of them.” At the resort owned by one of the men she’d embezzled from, she thought. But that wasn’t something she could tell her daughter. Ivy didn’t know that the place where she used to visit Meagan was a prison, and even if she did, it wouldn’t have meant anything to her. Someday it would, though. Once Ivy got older, it would be a discussion they were destined to have.
Single Mom, Billionaire Boss Page 2
